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Archive for August, 2009

It’s pretty late in the season for blueberries, but life has been such that I have been unable to get out for the last few weeks, so today I took advantage of NO RAIN and drove up to Creighton. Vale INCO has No trespassing signs all over the place… I’m not trespassing, I’m visiting old memories. Parked at the start of Snider street and made my way up there to Connaught, then NW on Alexander St., past Grey St., then south on George St. to Edward St., the place I really call “home” because that is where I spent my formative years. It was also the birthplace and home of my wife, Arlene Cretzman. She lived probably two hundred yards away, if that, but it took me a really long time to find her

Took a few pics with my iPhone of the handiwork my dad did in or about 1956. The concrete retaining wall and porch foundation he built are still there, but nature is having its way. So hard to believe there was even a house there…the lots and houses were so small, but the community’s heart was so big… and still is.[caption id="attachment_251" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Poured concrete block that dad made for our new front porch entry"][/caption] Made my way through the bush north of Alexander St. and back down Connaught and then decide to take a little side trip down memory lane to the ball field, home of the Creighton Indians and playground to generations of children who made their own entertainment doing things that would, if we were to listen to all the play psychologists and others, should have killed everyone of us off before we reached puberty.
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Long story short… the blueberries are pretty much finished. Got enough for me and my girl to have a little bedtime snack, but I picked a lot of fond memories from the recesses of my mind, not of mansions or manicured grounds, but of real people.
Don’t forget… so far as I know, the annual Creighton reunion is still a go on the third Sunday of September as it has been every year since our first biggy in 1989… interesting note… it has NEVER rained on us on that date since 89.

This is a re-post. Got too frustrating trying to repair the photo gallery after we changed hosting sites.

Recently visited Meldrum Bay for a few days of shooting the spring poppies. There is a fairly large bed of them that frame some of the historic buildings really nicely. Also made it out to the Mississagi Lighthouse (about 30 kms. from Meldrum Bay) and that is where the road and Manitoullin Island end. I camped in The Point campground which is right on Meldrum Bay and right across the road from the Meldrum Bay Inn. The veranda is a really nice place to while away the summer hours sipping iced tea, swapping stories with the guests and locals… and especially with Shirin and her daughter Elena… they are the “front” staff of the establishment (husband Bob tends to the maintenance and other serious kitchen duties (along with other staff). One of the nicest things about spending time there was hearing Shirin’s ready laughter. It echoes out across the village and is absolutely lovely to hear. Thanks!

64 years old… back to school! Just returning from five days at Niagara School of Imaging (NSI) http://www.niagaraschool.com/ . What a blast! Traveling through the fruit belt of Ontario brought back so many memories from my youth when I spent part of a summer picking fruit in the Vineland and Jordan Station area about fifty years ago. NSI was awesome. I enrolled in Marilyn Sholin’s class http://www.marilynsholin.com/

for digital painting. Marilyn is one of only three dozen Corel Paining Masters in the world and she deserves to be there. All NSI classes are small (7 in our case) so you get all the attention you need. Now I have to unscramble my brain and start using what I learned. The hardest part is getting my head around the idea that paintings are a representation of reality (unless you’re my magnificent artist friend Cheryl Battistelli  http://cherylbattistelli.com/ who seems to know every whisker on a cat’s face… I’m sure she counts them Anyway, made some really nice friends and am looking forward to this new expression of my artistic talents.